Health
Trial and error
The Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine trials, underway at the Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo, were suspended on 10 November by the Brazilian health regulator, Anvisa, following the death of a volunteer.
According to the head of the trial, the death was unrelated to the vaccine. Less than 48 hours later, the trial was restarted, resulting in an open conflict between President Bolsonaro and Joao Dória, the governor of São Paulo and potential rival of Bolsonaro in the 2022 presidential election.
Bolsonaro cheered Anvisa’s decision to halt the trial but the government of Sao Paulo, which finances Instituto Butantan’s trials, said that Anvisa’s decision was “strange”, implying that the federal government had intervened.
An advisor to the director general of Anvisa told us, “Anvisa has been put under pressure because as soon as we [Anvisa] give the green light to a vaccine, it will be able to enter the Brazilian market for distribution. However, what most people are missing is that it will be the Ministry of Health who will regulate the vaccination campaign, including how it will be carried out and who will implement it.”
"What most people are missing is that it will be the Ministry of Health who will regulate the vaccination campaign.”
Advisor to the director general of Anvisa
The Anvisa representative added, “Experts are separated from institutional departments, which deal with demands from different administrations. Anvisa’s decisions strictly follow clinical procedures; our [Anvisa’s] decisions are based on health-first priorities and we can prove that with our technical reports.”
A correspondent at a Chinese media outlet in Brazil was clearly unimpressed, “Bolsonaro has endangered the credibility of Anvisa, which had not been questioned before. But this is Brazil’s problem, from an international business perspective, these disputes question Brazil’s market freedom.”
“Bolsonaro has endangered the credibility of Anvisa, which had not been questioned before.”
Chinese media correspondent, Brazil
Tensions around the vaccine trials are expected to decrease following the municipal elections. However, the next battle is bound to take place in relation to the commercialisation of the vaccine in the country.
Finally, Bolsonaro has stated his opposition to mandatory vaccinations but Dória has said that, in Sao Paulo, vaccination will be mandatory. In turn, the Supreme Court, which is currently investigating the reasons behind the Sinovac suspension, said that the judiciary will have the last word on the legal obligations of vaccination.
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